ib-6s build

i should be able to get some pictures this afternoon or in the morning, so i thought i'd start a thread for my build.

won't quite be from start to finish, but, almost.

kit arrived all in order, nicely matched cap and neck fit snuggly, no big glue marks or scratches etc. at first i went for an all-natural finish, which was nice, but when i went to assemble it all it just didn't look quite special enough, so after some consideration i decided to dismantle the instrument, sand back all of the finish from the back and most from the front and start over.

this time around, i went for something a little different and used a few techniques i used at art school, probably not too kosher but to good result. on the front i hand rubbed yellow food dye, then rubbed back with a scouring pad (like from the dish sink...) and repeated a few times until the colour was as even as it was going to get.

then for the back, i mixed a tiny little bit of blue stain into some black, which i again clothed onto the back and sides until it was quite dark. at this point, i grabbed the same scouring pad i had used before, soaked it in some diluted yellow food colouring and scrubbed back some of the dark stain starting in the center. the blue and yellow combine to make a sort of dark green with a black burst.

after all the stains had gone on and dried, i decided i wanted the look of binding but without actualy binding the body, so with a fine file i went around the edges of the front face and beveled them to approx 45 degrees so expose a thin, angled, stainless strip around the entire face.

after all this, ive started to rub on gloss polyurethane which i will steel wool back and repeat until i am happy with the consistency. i'll then go back and apply a similar finish to the neck, only less gloss on the back of the neck than elsewhere on the project.

photos to come, stay tuned

wow you have been a busy boy Someguy,
can't wait to see pics.

finished 'er up today

first step for the day was to grind down the pins holding up the saddles, they were a bit pointy and uncomfortable, perfect now. i then fixed the nut by slightly deepening the slot for the low b string, and slightly adjusted the neck relief.

then it was time to go under the bonnet, got everything soldered in nice, no dramas. for anyone following my wiring thread the only change i made to the final diagram was to put both pickups in parallel before the tone control instead of series cause as it was i could only get neck pickup alone or neck and bridge, but not bridge alone. oh and a went with a .039 micro farad cap on the tone pot, .015 on the diode circuit and .0022 on the bass cut (i think thats what i ended up choosing...)

the diode circuit sounds killer, not much like an overdrive sound, just a kind of punchier sound i guess, hard to describe.

pics and sound should both be on the card for tonight, im pretty happy with my results so why not show off? haha

might even need to enter guitar of the month. doubt i'd win, but i may give it a go lol. what does the winner win for this competition by the way? just the pride i assume (and thats good enough for me), just curious though.

cheers

oh, and once the electrics were working correctly i spent some time intonating as well, it truely is an instrument now